Bad Boys II

Bad Boys II

I want to talk about a horrible scene in “Bad Boys II.” A cop played by Martin Lawrence is worried because his 15-year old daughter is going on her first date. We see the girl, who is pretty and looks forward to it, being checked over by her mother in a new dress. The doorbell rings Lawrence opens it to reveal her date: a nervous 15-year old boy who is tall and thin and dressed neatly.

Without mercy, Marcus and his partner (Will Smith) intimidate the boy. He’s threatened with unspeakable horrors if he even touches the girl. They ask him if he’s a virgin. They call him an N-word. At one point, they pull out a gun on him. “Ever have sex with a man?” asks Smith, leering. “Want to?” The boy is terrified.

This scene’s pointless cruelty pulled me from the film and into the minds of its creators. What were they thinking? Have they completely lost touch with human nature that they believe audiences like this scene? Do they think it is funny? Did any of the actors voice objections? It is a producer’s duty to keep a movie on course; did Jerry Bruckheimer notice anything offensive? Or could it be that everyone involved with the film has become so desensitized by the relentless cynical violence of movies like this that no one noticed anything wrong with it? “Bad Boys II” is a bloated, tasteless assembly-line product with a lot of chases and killings and explosions.

Oh, it’s all done well enough. Michael Bay, who directed it, is very good at this kind of thing; at least four writers labored over his script, which does not contain an original idea. Even the villain is a cheap imitation of Al Pacino’s great drug dealer in “Scarface.” The plot, very briefly: Smith and Lawrence are partners chasing down a drug supplier who launders his money through Cuba. Gabrielle Union plays Lawrence’s sister, a New York DEA agent who has been seeing Smith. Joe Pantoliano is the obligatory police captain who constantly chews out the guys (and for once after a chase scene, a movie notices the body count).

No one in this movie is very interesting; our eyes glaze over during another tired retread of chase scenes we’ve seen before. Once in a while there’s variety as when the boys shoot up a Ku Klux Klan rally but I dunno, maybe it’s just me but I don’t find burning crosses and guys in hoods funny. Does 2003 need fresh circulation for these images? A careless attitude towards filmmaking reflects contempt for viewers.

Consider two helicopters pursuing a speedboat near Miami. I was never sure who was in the boat or why it was fleeing; maybe I missed something but it didn’t matter much. Eventually cops spray automatic weapons at the boat until its engine dies and we hear “the boat is dead in the water.” End of scene. As nearly as I can tell, this scene exists so we can watch two helicopters chase down a speedboat.

In an incredibly long 146-minute movie such as this one why would you waste time on such trivial scenes? The editing for this movie jumps around so quickly that hardly anything makes sense anymore because all you see are mindless movements happening onscreen nonstop without any real reason behind them whatsoever!

For example: After taking action to Cuba where he meets up with drug lord’s mansion heroes steal bright yellow Hummer under fire getaway vehicle used by said drug lord himself only moments earlier during previous chase sequence involving police officers shooting bullets everywhere while trying their best not get shot themselves since they’re supposed protect criminals from being harmed even though technically speaking those same criminals should have been locked away forever ago because there doesn’t seem like there will ever come point where either side really wins out here anyway besides maybe individual character arcs but then again who knows right?

So anyways my point being if you look closely enough. At one point however much time passes until later when suddenly somehow magically somehow miraculously impossibly against logic laws physics rules governing reality itself happened earlier during some other part earlier earlier still somehow logically doesn’t make sense yet somehow managed happen nonetheless despite seeming impossible otherwise seems unlikely given circumstances surrounding events occurring preceding moment immediately after post explosion aftermath occurred should have resulted complete destruction surrounding area surrounding explosion epicenter resulting lack visibility whatsoever due proximity proximity proximity proximity proximity proximity just kidding!

What happens next is almost sickening. The Hummer speeds down a hillside that is totally inhabited by the tarpaper shanties of poor people. As the Hummer plows through this settlement, walls and roofs, doors and windows, dogs and chickens, corrugated iron and curtains go flying. And I think: People live there. There’s a quick mention of drug production on the hillside, but still: Dozens of poor shantytown dwellers must have been killed not that the movie notices.

There was a time when a hero would rather die than injure an innocent bystander. No more. The heroes in “Bad Boys II” are egotistical monsters with nothing on their minds but their power, their one liners, their weapons, their cars and their desires. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that characters who wipe out a village can also make cruel jokes at the expense of a kid on his first date. Everyone involved in this project should do community service.

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